hi im new to this sitemy beloved fuji has just been for a bath in swanage and looks like collected a terminal illness in the process so am looking for new set up, ive had my eye on the cannon s90/95 for quite a while, funds are limited unfort, but im also stuck on the type of housing to go for cannon or ikelite, i know ikes are better made/service, but hav read better reports on the cannon one for the s90. have no add lens at mo but want get them, i do have an external strobe so how will adds fit with that and say the cannon??? anyone got this camera and these housing and can give some advice...in layments terms please as im not too up on the term

Hi, I'm pretty positive you contact me on FaceBook, so I'm going to paste our exchange in here, too, so others can read it and benefit from the discussion as well.

If this wasn't you, well, the topic matter may still help with your questions here.

You wrote:

hope you dont mind but would like your advice. my beloved fuji f31 flooded and it looks terminal so im looking at the cannon S90 [liked for ages] but im at a lost at what housing to get ???

i keep reading reviews and getting more confused on which is best cannon or ike. general opinion is that ike is better [more robust and better service] however i read your review and if im right you seemed more impressed with the cannon with the S90 [is this so??] would love the fix one but funds are limited so that is way way out of reach

i hav no add lenses at mo but do want to get them in the future so im thinking of long term use for this camera and housing. i read somewhere bout getting the wide angle -which would eventually be my first point of call- but something bout it just restoring its original 28 [so does that mean when in housing the lens is reduced?? ] also you mention bout taking off the lens and having to put in bcd during dive, what do you do with the cannnon inon lens if you want take that off during dive?

is there more vignetting with one case than the other also which one is best for fibre optic cable. i hav an external strobe not a strong one but it is a sea n sea. i also like to take macro. however, im a novice so sometimes struggle to understand some of the info i read. would really appreciate your imput as cant afford to make a bad purchase

I responded:

"1) I would consider perhaps the Canon S95, now that's out, instead of the S90. Minor improvements, mostly for topside use, but it's generally best to get the newer model when possible, in the fast-moving world of digital photography. Not essential, but worth considering.

2) The main difference between the ikelite housing and the Canon OEM housing is durability (how hard are you on your stuff?), warranty (goes to durability... but with ike you stand a chance of some warranty protection... for the housing, not the camera... in the event of a problem), cost (ikelite is a LOT more money... while the Canon is cheap enough you could buy a new one in case of failure and still spend less), and attachment method for external lenses (M65 threaded on Ikelite, vs. you need the Inon AD adapter for Canon).

Since the Fix housing is out of your price range (I agree it's pretty stupid expensive), I would lean toward the Canon housing, personally. UNLESS you're particularly hard on your housings, in which case the Ike is worth considering. The Canon works better with no strobe, but you really can't add anything to it without buying the Inon adapter. That eats (somewhat) into the price advantage, but (a) if you don't have any add-on lenses yet, that cost can be put off until later, (b) it's still cheaper than the ikelite housing, and (c) AD connectors are just way better than threading a lens on underwater.

Either housing will work with a fiber cable, but you may need to be more creative with attaching it to the Canon, since it doesn't include a place to mount one, normally (With the Ikelite, you should be able to buy a block that mounts to the housing). Still, it's not rocket science... I've done it with duct tape in a pinch.

The "restore 28mm" comments refer to the fact that light bends when it goes through glass, and more still when it goes from air to water. If you put a camera in a housing (so the camera is in air) that has a flat port (flat sheet of glass) in front of the lens, you lose some field of vision (FOV) because of the way light bends, going from the air in the case, through the glass, and into the water. (Same effect that makes everything look bigger underwater.) You would need a dome or wide angle lens of some sort to regain the field of view you get with a 28mm camera standing on dry land. I consider this a non-issue, since the same thing happens with a regular (non-28mm) camera. That normal 35mm camera loses some FOV as well. With the 28mm camera and no add-ons, you'll still end up better off than with a 35mm camera with no add-ons.

When you're not using a lens during a dive, usually you put it onto a lens caddy, which clamps onto your strobe arms and gives you a place to stick the lenses when they're not on the front of the camera being used.

Vignetting is probably fairly close with each of these housings: It's not going to be an issue with either until you add a wide angle lens.

Good luck!"

And today you wrote back with this:

thanks you have been a great help. i left work this am [nurse doing nights] having decided on the S95 and the ike housing now after reading your comments im swaying more and more [again] towards the cannon, esp as with the money not spent on the ike can go twards getting inon wide angle sooner than i expected and i totally agree with you im not keen on the screwing type fittings hav enough trouble landside with things like that!!

i do have another question tho if thats ok? i take your point bout the strobe but i did find it came in useful on certain shots whilst using my F31 [sometimes i did use to just take it off and use the camera flash] so i still want it on the new set up but im wondering how i fix the strobe onto the camera along with the inon adapter which is also screwd into the base of the camera??

In UW photography, the strobe (almost) never attaches directly to the housing. The strobe attaches to strobe arms so you can move the strobe around to position it, and get it farther from the lens to try different lighting angles, reduce backscatter, etc. The strobe arms then generally connect to a handle and bottom plate which the camera housing also screws onto, by way of the tripod mounting holes on the underside.

mantababe wrote:i do have an external strobe so how will adds fit with that and say the cannon???

What kind of strobe do you have and what kind of fiber optic cable do you have? If you have an Inon strobe, there's a kit that they sell that includes the fiber optic cable and a fiber optic cable/mount that attaches to the AD28 mount for the Canon OEM housing, and it also includes films that you can use to cover the camera's strobe so that only infra-red passes through.See: http://www.divervision.com/catalog/-p-1122.html?osCsid=7v66e0j9t20hbb6rq1i690pf73

I'm sure you can rig up something. Tell us what you have as far as strobe and FO cable.

i have a sea and sea strobe and fibre optic cable L so would that go into the AD mount? also looks like i might have to get the S90 rather than S95 as inon havent made wide angle lens/mount for the cannon S95!!!!

sorry compudude you i had contacted you on fb but id put so many threads on sites [forgotten which ones ooppss!!!!]

Mantababe, I recommend you get the S95 with Canon WP-DC38, don't get the S90 (no HD video!)... The AD28 adapter that works with the Canon S90 housing should work on the Canon S95 housing as well. People have tried it and it works, which makes sense since the S90 and S95 cameras are not terribly different. I think Inon just needs to update their website. See this thread which shows some photos of a WP-DC38 housing with the AD28 mount for the WP-DC35 housing: